Government is not important

[vit_r]

...here are a list of drivers that I think played a major role in shaping the way today's economy differs from that of thirty years ago.

1. The personal computer's evolution
2. The Internet's evolution
3. The stratification of marriage, with college-educated people marrying one another and less educated women having children out of wedlock.
4. The fall of the Communism in Eastern Europe, and the rise of capitalism in India and China.

I cannot think of any U.S. government policies that have any significance in comparison to those developments.

from "Important Economic Drivers of the Past Thirty Years", by Arnold Kling

Perhaps the most comprehensive study to date, which was conducted in 1997 and analyzed 22 countries, found that a 25 percent increase in child-related subsidies to couples resulted in an average of 0.07 more births per woman.

from NYT: "No Babies?"